Hope from a Distant Past
by the.impossible.fangirl
Summary: Begins during A Canterlot Wedding part 2. Princess Luna, in the act of defending her sister and kingdom from Queen Chrysalis reveals things about her past to shock the ponies present. Princess Luna/OC. Rated K for mentions of previous deaths
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own MLP FiM nor would I like to pretend I did.

AN: This takes place during A Canterlot Wedding Part 2 right after Chrysalis has knocked out Celestia.

"Shining Armor's love for you has made me even more powerful than Celestia!" The Queen of the Changelings proclaimed maniacal joy in every syllable.

"Perhaps," said an unseen pony from the shadow of an archway, "but that does not mean that you are unstoppable." Princess Luna stepped out into the light as she finished her sentence to stand protectively in front of her fallen sister. "Everypony has weakness little cracks in their power that can be used against them and I know yours Chrysalis."

"You? If you think you can defeat me you're sorely mistaken. Powerful you may be but Celestia was always the greater power and I have defeated her."

"Not when it comes to changelings. I assume you know your own legends." Chrysalis was looking scared now. "According to changeling mythology, a pony that has lost the pony they love most, that pony is protected from a changeling's power. You also know the story of the changeling's greatest victory."

"Oh yes I know this story that was a glorious day for the changelings. Wasn't it right before your little rampage that my ancestors took him from you forever?" the Queen's voice dripping with unsuppressed triumph.

The remaining guests whom had been trying to stay out of the way of the fighting began whispering amongst themselves the words "Who is him?" repeating and echoing around the room, curious as to whom the queen was referring.

"Yes it was." Luna said quietly. But with more force she continued "But that is not all I also have lost a most beloved sister." The room was once again filled with mutterings.

One brave pony asked, "There was a third sister?"

It was Twilight who answered "A very, very, long time ago Princess Luna had a twin sister whose task it was to bring forth the stars every night. But for reasons unknown she disappeared and has never been seen since, or at least that's what the history books say."

"My sister Starbright did not just disappear, she died I know not how, her spirit now lives in the stars she was guardian over. It was she who helped me escape the moon and then the nightmare." Princess Luna told the room at large. She turned back to Chrysalis fury beginning to burn in her eyes "It was you and your demons that took them from me." In the Royal Canterlot Voice she continued "You will not hurt anypony else in my family!"

"We shall see." Chrysalis cried as she shot her green magic at Luna. The Princess of the Night stood her ground countering with her own blue magic. Not unlike Celestia had done mere minutes previous. The rays of light collided in between them. Slowly Luna's blue magic was forcing its way toward the now perspiring and desperate queen. It inched a long until, finally, it collided with Chrysalis and engulfed her in a brilliant blue light bubble.

Shining Armor's eyes changed instantly back to their regular blue, the spell had been broken. Through the power of princess Cadence's and his love the shield barrier was strengthened forcing all the changelings, except for their queen, out of Canterlot. Chrysalis moaned in defeat and slumped into a sitting position inside her prison.

Celestia began to wake up on the ground. Luna turned to her sister looking both relieved and worried. Chrysalis seized her opportunity. She broke free of Luna's spell and without warning shot a jet of sickly green magic towards Luna before flying out the open window the join her minions outside of Canterlot as she flew away she roared "You shall rue the day you interfered in my plans!" Twilight and Celestia both ran after her shooting spells trying to recapture her but to no avail. Disgruntled and disappointed they turned around to face the room only to see Princess Luna crumpled on the floor.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer I don't own My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic**

**AN: Anything italicized is thought**

Celestia rushed to her sister. She wasn't breathing, becoming frantic she tried every healing spell she could think of, desperate to save the last member of her family she had left. _Please don't die Little Luna _Celestia begged silently.

Meanwhile Luna awoke in darkness. Slowly she staggered to her feet and peered around in the void, searching for anything that wasn't black. As she looked she spotted a pony walking toward her, a very familiar pony. The pony was an alicorn of Luna's exact height and build with a silvery coat, a mane and tail as black as night and eyes the purest gold. There was an aura of light coming off from her, not unlike an angel. The pony was Starbright Luna's long since departed twin sister.

Luna just stood there for a moment, dumbfounded_, how could Starbright be here? Where was 'here' in any case? _A thought occurred to her_, unless I am dead now to_. Coming out of her moment of shock Luna ran forward to meet her and hugged her tight, sobbing into her mane.

"I've missed you so much" Luna whimpered into her mane.

"And I you" Starbright gently replied "I must be brief however for we have but a few moments. Sister you must listen to me very carefully, you are currently in the Netherworld, a place between life and death. Our eldest sister is frantically trying to save you but she will not succeed unless you decide to go back."

"If I stay here will I be able to see him again?" Luna asked a tiny bit hopefully

"No" Luna looked devastated "because, your husband is not here" She looked up "He still lives in your world."

"What? No that cannot be" Luna shook her head not daring to believe it. "He has been dead for a thousand years, and I think I would know it if he were alive."

"Do not be so sure, he has merely slept, trapped by an ancient evil, and it is up to you to find him."

"Then where is he!" Luna shouted in frustration. Subconsciously, she had decided to go back and was beginning to fade back to reality.

Sounding more distant with every word Starbright called "You will find him in a place also long since gone! Goodbye, dearest Luna."

Celestia was still desperately hovering over her sister trying to find any sign of life, when Luna started to breathe shallowly again, mumbling something that sounded like "but what does that even mean?" Celestia sighed in relief. Luna's eyes suddenly flew open and she breathed more steadily. She looked up into Celestia's face and whispered.

"He is alive, my husband is alive."


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I do not own MLP: FiM**

**AN: Thank you reviewers, you're the reason I'm posting this a bit early. Also any ideas on what her husbands name should be? I want midnight to be in it but I'm being indecisive on the 2nd word. Onto chapter 3!**

Though they most certainly tried, the press was unable to find out anything else on the intriguing and somewhat shocking news that had been revealed to them at the almost wedding. Who would have thought that the Princess of the Night had been married? It was all the newspapers had talked about until the actual wedding of Princess Cadence and Shining Armor four days later. During those four days Celestia did not leave Luna's side except to raise the sun and moon, refusing to speak with any of the reporters that were swarming around the castle. Even after Luna had regained consciousness and stayed awake on the morning of the third day, Celestia stayed with her and gave some much needed moral support.

*The morning Luna woke up*

"Luna. Luna. Luna! Time to wake up" said someone in a sing song voice. Luna's mind was still foggy. The last thing she remembered was summing up what Starbright had said to Celestia before blacking out. Groggily, she opened her eyes to see the face of Celestia hovering near her own. "About time Little Luna," she chuckled "you've been asleep for two days and nights."

Luna sat up and yawned "really?" then she seemed to actually come back to reality, a look of focus appearing on her face before asking rapidly. "What happened? Did Chrysalis get away? Have Cadence and Shining Armor been married yet? Have those nosey newspapers been asking a lot of questions?"

"One at a time, one at a time" Celestia said with a small sigh. "Firstly you were cursed by Chrysalis and have spent the last few days sleeping it off. Secondly I'm sorry to say that she did, though I doubt she will show her face around Equestria while she knows you are here. Thirdly, no, you haven't missed it, the wedding is tomorrow and," she paused "unfortunately the editor in chief of the _Canterlot Gazette _was in attendance and heard every word that was said; now every newspaper in Equestria is speculating about our sister and your husband." She said, sounding as if she would dearly have like to have jinxed the foolish editor so he wouldn't have been able to communicate what he had heard.

Luna slumped back into her pillows and moaned. "Well at least I did not miss the wedding. I assume you have been shepherding the night?"

"Yes, dusk and dawn were the only times I left you side."

"You did not need to do that, I am sure you had much more important things to do than to watch over a sleeping sister."

"Nothing is more important than family Little Luna"

Luna scowled at the nickname, before her expression lightened "Then I am grateful, but sister I must tell you what I saw and heard."

"Is this about what you said before you fell asleep? Because it has been vexing me to no end, how you could possibly say such a thing. We both know he died Luna. Your grief was what brought on the nightmare." Celestia gently reminded her.

"I know that Celestia, and I believed him to be dead also but right after Chrysalis jinxed me I went to the Netherworld and I met Starbright there, and she told me that he was still alive." Luna then told Celestia exactly what had been said.

"Are you sure, are you absolutely and completely sure of this, it couldn't have just been a dream?"

"There is no way that was a dream it was to vivid. I am sure of what happened with a speck of doubt, I know what I heard."

"Then I believe you" Celestia said confidently "my question is, what did she mean by_, a place also long since gone_."

"I have no idea; there must be hundreds of places that could apply to." Luna said mournfully, before a blazing look of determination settled into her features. "But I will find him even if it takes me the rest of eternity I will find him."

"I know you will." Celestia said pride in her voice.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I do not own MLP: FiM**

**AN: sorry about the delay, crazy life and all that.**

The morning of the wedding dawned bright and astonishingly clear, just as Celestia had planned. The wedding took place without a single mishap. That evening after she had shepherded in the moon Princess Luna flew down to the reception, which was already in full swing, bringing back memories of her own wedding over a thousand years ago. Tears began to well up in her eyes as she turned away to walk amongst the trees. A short while later the Bride and Groom found her and immediately bestowed their gratitude. "We know it must have been hard, talking about him, but thank you so much for saving us all from her."

"It wasn't just me, you two are the ones who truly banished her with your love" Luna replied smiling sadly.

After thanking her again anyway Cadence and Shining Armor turned and were a few paces away before Luna made up her mind and called them back. "I want you two to promise me that you will never let a puny argument get in the way of your love. The day I lost him," She hesitated trying to steady her voice "he and I were not speaking because of some disagreement. I don't even remember what it was now, but the greatest regret of my life has been that because of my foolish frustration I was never able to say good bye, or tell him that I loved him one final time. Promise me" She placed a hoof on Cadence's shoulder," promise me that you will never leave each other's company in anger. It is not worth it."

"We promise" They whispered softly, Cadence came up to her aunt and hugged her.

Smiling now, Luna told them "now go and enjoy your party I believe Ms. Pie is probably becoming impatient with your absence."

The happy couple trotted away back to their guests. Luna turned the opposite direction to go deeper into the grove, reflecting on the past. She had met Midnight Warrior shortly after Celestia and herself had defeated Discord the first time. He was an exceptionally handsome and accomplished stallion, whom had been a teacher at the Royal Academy of Magic, focusing on the teachings of Star Swirl the Bearded. It was there she met him. She had been inspecting the school with Celestia, and she had been impressed with the results from his students in comparison to the other professor's pupils. After the inspection she had stayed behind to talk with him about some of Star Swirl's more disputed theories. That conversation had been a long one which had branched out to cover a number of different subjects. They learned that they shared opinions on several topics. As she was leaving he asked if they could go to lunch some time to continue their conversation. Luna readily agreed to this and that lunch date lead to others, they had their rocky moments like any other couple but a year and a half after that first conversation they were married. It was funny really that today, would not only be Cadence and Shining Armor's anniversary but it was also hers and Midnight's. Luna wondered again about what Starbright had said she was determined to find out the truth, she didn't dare accept what Star Bright had said, if the was wrong the heartache would be too much to bare.

Luna heard a rustling in the bushes that brought her out of her reverie of the past, turning towards it she saw the shy one that had helped her lean to speak with more gentleness in her voice, Fluttershy. She stood there awkwardly for a moment before saying in a voice barely audible "oh, hello Princess, I'm sorry I disturbed you I was just following this cute little mouse, I'm sorry. I'll just leave now."

Luna spoke trying not to laugh. "It is all right Fluttershy, how goes the reception?"

"Oh, um, it's fine, Pinky has everypony doing the Hokey Pokey."

"Is Celestia participating?" Luna asked extremely curious.

"Um, no, I don't think so..."

"Shame" Luna said, disappointed "That would have been quite amusing."

"Um, Princess Luna, I just wanted to say that tonight is so beautiful, even more so than any other night I've ever seen. Something in the stars is just so, dazzling."

Luna gazed up at her night and smiled. "You know Fluttershy? I think there is something in the stars tonight that seems brighter."


	5. Chapter 5

**I do not own MLP:fim**

**AN: Hello... sorry I haven't updated in a month I could give you list of excuses but I doubt you care, you're not here to listen to me rant you are here for the story so without further adieu...Chapter 5**

"You want to do what?!" Celestia proclaimed, louder than she had meant to. Other ponies in the entrance hall of the Canterlot palace turned and stared. Celestia lowered her voice so that only Luna could hear her. "You want to tell the press what happened?" she asked incredulously.

"Yes." Luna stated briefly, and kept walking toward their destination of the throne room.

Celestia was dumbfounded, which mind you did not happen very often. "Why?" she asked sounding like she was trying to bring reason back into the conversation.

Luna turned back to her sister, slightly annoyed. "I would rather they get the truth from me than some piece of rubbish somepony would eventually make up, just to get their fifteen minutes of fame."

"Are you sure this is a smart thing to do?"

"Not necessarily but I think it is the right thing to do."

"Own your own head be it, but do not say I did not warn you."

Shortly after her conversation with her sister Luna had messengers sent out to the Canterlot Gazette and others of its kind, inviting a single reporter from each organization to come to a press conference the following morning at 9 o'clock sharp. She also informed them that she would not be answering any questions.

The next morning a reporter from every big time newspaper and magazine in Equestria, and some reporters for small local newsletters were gathered in the throne room of the palace. From a small antechamber hidden from the rest of the room Luna glanced in at the lot of them, with their paper and quills at the ready. She took a deep breath and entered, thinking to herself, _this is what you wanted, and you cannot send them all packing now._

Luna stepped out of the antechamber with the grace and poise befitted to her rank and glided onto the raised dais. She cleared her throat and what little chatter there had been died away instantly. "Welcome to the palace, you all know why you are here and frankly I do not wish this to take any longer than is necessary. I will NOT repeat myself, and I will NOT answer any questions during or after. Is that clear?" She stated looking imperiously down at them. There were a few grumbles about the no questions bit, but that was only to be expected after all it was their job to ask questions, but on the whole they nodded in agreement and were silent again. "Good, now let us begin. Before the Nightmare Moon incident, I was married to a Stallion named Midnight Warrior, and I loved him more than anything or anypony else. But fate is not always kind. A mere seven months after we were married he was lost to me. "

"We were traveling with my sister back to Canterlot after a diplomatic mission. We took the path through the mountains believing it would be faster, with horrible consequences. In the middle of the pass we were ambushed by what must have been thousands of changelings, we tried to fight them, but there were too many. Midnight told us to flee, that he would hold them off while we escaped. I would not leave him to die; I would have stayed had not Celestia pulled me out of harm's way." Luna paused, catching her breath, one might have expected to see tears glistening in her eyes but she kept them in check for the sake of appearances, her voice remaining resolutely steady.

"After returning to Canterlot we assembled the entirety of the Royal guard and every willing unicorn. We searched everywhere for him, but we never found him, or the changelings. My heart turned to ice and shattered that day, nothing could make me forget my grief, and eventually I subconsciously turned to jealousy, as an escape from the misery. Which as you all know held disastrous results, the Nightmare was born. I had 1000 years to come to terms with Midnight's death, the thought of him is still painful and I doubt it will ever not be so, but I have finally accepted it.

"Now" she said briskly, "concerning the third sister, my twin, her name was Starbright. In the beginning of our reign it was her task to raise the stars and to help me protect the sleeping world from dark forces. But Starbright had a rather unusual and rare gift. She could transfer the sicknesses and injuries' from other ponies, to herself. She was strong and she could take it, but she never took so much that it killed her. Until The Plague of 1200 years past. I am sure you remember it from your school days, it was the worst thing that has every happened in Equestria, thousands were dying, and there was no cure. Starbright could not stand by knowing she had the ability to save them. So she took it from them. She took the sickness from every single afflicted pony, mare, stallion and filly. It was too much for her body, she faded quickly. As she lay dying Celestia and I released her spirit into the stars that she had guarded so carefully. Her spirit helped me escape the moon and the Nightmare, after I had come to terms with his death." She looked out over the reporters with just a hint of disdain, but then it vanished. She said very politely "Thank you all for your time." She turned and walked out of the room. Surprised by the abrupt conclusion and dismissal the reporters tossed the no questions rule out of the window and shouted after the retreating monarch.

"But you said he was alive at the wedding!"

"Princess! What will you do now?"

"How do you feel toward Celestia now?"

"Do you think he's alive, somewhere?"

Luna ignored them all.


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I do not own MLP FiM and am making no money off this.**

**AN: This chapter deals with my own personal head cannon concerning Luna and Celestia's origin and Alicorns in general. I am vague about it on purpose, I promise I will explain properly soon. **

The night after the conference, Celestia and Luna were lounging comfortably in Luna's suite, doing the usual sisterly things of laughing at each other's mistakes and confiding what they couldn't tell anypony else. "And that is why Photo Finish had to do a photo-shoot for a frog." Celestia finished her story proudly. Luna was shaking with laughter and continued like that for several seconds. Once she stopped she turned to look at her sister, Celestia's face had become serious. "Luna, how are we going to find Midnight?"

Luna sobered immediately, she appreciated that Celestia had included herself in the search. "I have already started going through the library looking for places that disappeared around the same time he did… the only one I have found so far is the Crystal Empire. "

"But it had just vanished itself" Celestia reminded her. "We were on our way home from dealing with King Sombra when he disappeared."

"I know that, that is why I am still looking."

Celestia pondered for a moment, "perhaps you should ask Twilight Sparkle…" she mused.

Luna nodded, "perhaps." I'm going to keep searching until I find something."

And search she did, Luna spent the next two months almost entirely in the Canterlot Royal library, running into dead end after dead end. Until she found an ancient book that had been stowed away in a corner that seemed like no pony had been through in centuries. It was a book of prophecies, as Luna read she discovered a spell to "return things that are frozen in time" figuring that it couldn't hurt to try she cast it. When nothing happened she glared at the book for a moment before moving on. What she didn't know was that the spell flew through Equestria until it found something frozen in time. That thing just happened to be the Crystal Empire. By the next day Luna had forgotten about the spell. That is until a messenger burst into the throne room declaring that "it" was back. Celestia dismissed everypony else from the room, and turned to Luna. "How?" She declared bewildered "how could it have come back?" It was at this moment that Luna remembered the spell.

"I cast a spell I found in one of the ancient tomes in the library. Its purpose was to release an object frozen in time. It must have thought the empire met its requirements. But then, that must have been an extraordinarily flimsy time lock, to have been shattered so easily. One would usually require immense energy levels to break."

"Indeed" Celestia replied, "But however it came back, we need to take control of and stabilize the situation before it falls into chaos again." She paused, "Luna I'm assuming that you want to go and see if he is there."

"That is correct but I wish to send Princess Cadence and Shining Armor ahead. I desire to speak with Miss Twilight Sparkle and her friends before following behind."

Celestia hesitated slightly knowing that this was a touchy subject. "Is this about what we discussed earlier?"

Luna scowled slightly "yes, but I have no intention of acting on it yet, I have yet to decide on whether or not I agree with you, and this should prove a good opportunity to make judgment on the matter. Our first priority however, must be to protect the crystal ponies."

"Then we are in agreement, I will send word to Twilight."

"How much are we going to tell them of the history of the Empire?"

"Only what they need to know, I do not believe it will be necessary to tell the whole tale."

"Agreed."

The mane six came to Canterlot as quickly as was possible. Celestia met with Twilight to tell her of her "test" while Luna stood by mentally taking note of the young unicorns behavior. After they had gone, Luna and Celestia spent the next hour coming up with a plan, which actually took only a few minutes. It took longer because Celestia insisted on going over it so many times.

"Let's go over the plan one last time." Celestia said calmly

Luna, losing her patience snapped at her "Really?! It's not that difficult." she said exasperated. "Fine. While Sombra is distracted trying to regain entry and power, you and I are going to search for midnight, first in the mines then the palace and if we must the Labyrinth, without letting anypony know of our presence. And if we run into any changelings so much the better for us and so much the worse for them." Luna recited the plan a note of menace at the end.

"Good, let's go."

The Princesses transported themselves to the Crystal Empire, arriving in the Chamber. The Alicorns of Old had hidden rooms in places of importance so they could come and go at their leisure without being detected, if they wished. At one time they had had grand names to describe them, but they had long since been forgotten; now they were referred to simply as the Chambers. Only born Alicorns could pass through the room's walls. In the entire world there had once been dozens. Now only three remained intact. This one in the mines, the Castle of the Pony Sisters had one, and there was one in The Realm. The Realm was where Celestia, Luna and Starbright had been born; it was not so much a physical place, more that it existed in the space between spaces.

The two sisters set up spells to detect strong magic, which would surely be present if Midnight was trapped somewhere. The spells were sent down every single one of the long mine shafts, they searched and found nothing, so they returned to their casters. Undeterred Celestia and Luna made their way back to the surface. They sneaked into the palace, aided by magic of course, and preformed the same spells with the same discouraging results.

"Nothing? Again?!" Luna said exasperatedly "I had hoped that we would not have to search, the Labyrinth, even though it is the most likely place."

The Labyrinth had once been a prison for draconequus during the time when the Alicorn race had ruled supreme. After their reign ended, due to becoming bored with ruling the Earth and moving to their Celestial bodies, the draconequus escaped their prison and began their reign. It had been the perfect prison because it prevented magic of any kind, the spell had faded over the millennia, and now it was only impossible to magically transport in or out. Since then the Labyrinth had been used as a prison for anypony who had disagreed with the ruling draconequus of the day, or since the defeat of Discord it had been more recently been used as a prison for changelings but, they too had escaped. Now the Labyrinth sat empty below the deepest mines in the Crystal Empire, a feeling of terror and hopelessness embedded magically in its very walls, waiting to be put to use.

Celestia and Luna both knew this, which was why they had never used the Labyrinth for corporal punishment they viewed it as immoral. They walked in brooding silence for several hours until Celestia voiced her thoughts aloud. "I wonder how Twilight and Cadence are doing…"

"Judging by the lack of Sombra's maniacal cackle, and civilians screaming, I would venture a guess at they're fine." Luna replied her voice dripping with sarcasm.

Celestia actually laughed.

**AN: Reviews are most appreciated.**


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